Combined typewriting and computing machine



H. H. VICKERS.

COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23, 1920.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY H. VIOKERS, OF CORONA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOOD COMPUTINGMACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922.

Application filed October 23, 1920. Serial No. 418,884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY H. VICKERS, a citizen of the United States,residing in Corona, Long- Island, in the county of Queens and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in CombinedTypewriting and Computing Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to means for reduc ing the number ofdenominations in which digits may be entered, below the capacity of theregister in which said entries are to be made, and is in the nature ofan improvement on Patent No. 1,278,062, granted to me September 3, 1918.

In machines of the Underwood-Hanson type, such as disclosed in saidpatent, the number-keys are effective when the carriage is in acomputing zone to set, by means of key-setting linkages, index-pins onpin-bars advanced seriatim to effective position bydenomination-selecting means actuated by the carriage, and, when suchindexing is completed, the pin-bars and the numberwheels to which theyare connected may be actuated by the general operator in accordance withthe setting of the index-pins. Such denomination-selecting mechanismusually includes a set of denominational jacks actuable by a tappet onthe carriage and a set of thrust-links or rods to transmit the movementsof the jacks to levers in the lower part of the machine.

In carrying out this invention, certain of the thrust-rods or links maybe guided at their upper ends by means of a fixed plate, havingperforations through which said rods project, the position of the upperends of the rods being such as to enable actuation thereof by thecorresponding jacks. Provision may be made whereby other jacks may bemaintained in operative relation with respect to the corresponding jacksor may be moved to inoperative position with respect thereto. To thisend, certain of the jacks to be shifted may project through suitableguiding openings in a plate supported on the lower arm of a pivotedlever having a suitable handle at its upper end, the parts beingconstructed and arranged so that the lever will remain in eithereffective or ineffective position when so p0- sitioned. Such levers andguiding plates may be provided at each side of the set of ]&CkS.

It will be seen that by reducing the range of the denomination-selectingmechanism, denomination-selectors may be placed closer together than isusually the case, for the selectors need to be separated only to anextent sufficient to prevent advancement of two pin-bars at a time,thereby permitting narrow columns to be written close together andcross-adding to be effected.

The same arrangement of the guiding plate and lever may be used to throwout of effective relation with the jacks all of the thrustbarsassociated with a single register, so that, when two or more registersare used,

any; of them may be rendered ineffective, at W1 Other features inafterappear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a View showing my invention applied to so much of themachine of the Underwood-Hanson type as is necessary for the purpose ofillustration. Figure 2 is a detail sectional view, show- 111g certain ofthe thrust-bars or links moved to IIIGHQCtlVG position by means of thecorresponding controlling lever.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the rear of a jack-housing, with acontrolling lever at each side thereof.

Figure 4 is a view of a modified form of my invention, in which controlof all of the thrust bars may be effected by a single handle.

As is frequently the case in machines of the Underwood-Hanson type, thetypewritercarriage 10 is provided at its rear with one or moredenomination-selectors 11, pivotally and slidably mounted on a rod 12and held in adjusted position therealong by means of a notched rod 13.Normally, each denominationselector is in an ineffective, depressedposition, but as the carriage 10, in its letterfeeding movement, entersa computing zone, a frusto-conical roller 14 on the selector 11 andadvantages will herewill ride up the tapered end of a roller 15,extending across the computing zone, and the denomination-selector 11will be raised to effective position, so that a tappet 16 thereon maycam up seriatim the forward ends of denominational jacks 17, pivoted at18 in a housing 19. The rear ends of the jacks 17 overlie the upper endsof thrustrods or links 20, so that, upon actuation of the jacks 17 bythe tappet 16, the thrustrods or links 20 will be depressedcorrespondingly, and, through suitable transposition mechanism, willadvance the proper pin-bars to pin-setting position.

As herein disclosed, certain of the rods or links 20 may be guided insuitable perforations in a fixed plate 21, and the rods 20, at the leftof said plate 21, may have their upper ends guided in suitable aperturesin a plate 22, supported on the lower end of a lever 23, pivoted at 24and having a handle 25 at its upper end. Provision may also be made of aplate 26, having perforations to receive the upper ends of the rods 20at the right of the fixed plate 21, said plate 26 being mounted on thelower arm of a lever 27, pivoted at 28 and having a handle 29 at itsupper end. In order to determine the proper position of the levers 23and 27 when all of the rods 20 are to be actuated by the correspondingjacks, each of said levers 23 and 27 is provided with a lug 30 to engagea corresponding lever-supporting bracket 30", mounted on the rear of thehousing 19. It should be understood that the levers 23 and 27 are soheld at their pivots that although they may be moved by means of handlesthey will be yieldably retained in any position to which they are moved.

It will be evident that the capacity of the denomination-selectingmechanism may be reduced by moving either one, or both, of the levers 23and 27 to move the corresponding rods 20 to ineffective position, therear ends of the jacks 17 being curved upwardly to facilitate movementof the rods into and out of engagement with said jacks.

In Figure 4 is shown a modified form of the invention, in which all ofthe rods 20 project through apertures in a plate 31, supported at oneend of a lever 32 and at the other on an arm 33, said lever and said armbeing pivoted at 34 and 35, respectively, on brackets 36,. mounted onthe jack-housing. It will be evident that all of the rods may be movedto and from effective position, at one time, by means of a handle 37 atthe upper end of lever 32, the normal position of the lever beingdetermined by means of a lug 38 on its lower arm coming into contactwith the corresponding bracket 36.

In case all of the denominational jacks are effective fordenomination-selecting purposes, the selectors must be spaced far enoughapart so that two of them will not be effective on the pin-bars at thesame time, for, if not sufficiently spaced, two pin-bars would beadvanced at the same time and two pins set upon the depression of anumeralkey. Such action would lead to incorrect results. Certain classesof work involve the writing of small numbers and cross-computationthereof and, if the denomination-selecting mechanism is effectivethroughout its entire range, adjacent columns must be written withconsiderable space therebetween. It will be evident that by use of thepresent invention the effective range of the denomination-selectingmechanism may be reduced, to enable narrow columns to be written closetogether, or'restored to normal without any substantial delay. It shouldbe noted that there is no change in the mechanism of the register itselfbut that the denomination-selecting mechanism is made ineifective forcertain denominations.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, andportions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aset of denominational jacks and a set of denominational rods actuablethereby, a manually operable lever having its pivot in substantially thesame plane as that in which said denominational rods lie, and a plateextending at right angles from one arm of said lever and provided withapertures to receive and guide certain of said denominational rods, saidlever being frictionally held in any position to which it may be moved.

2. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, rarriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aplurality of denominational jacks and a plurality of denominational rodsactuable thereby, a plurality of manually operable levers having theirpivots in substantially the same plane as that in which saiddenominational rods normally lie, and a plate extending at right anglesfrom each of said levers and provided with apertures to receive andguide certain of said denominational rods, whereby movement of saidlevers may render said denomination-selecting mechanism ineifective forthe corresponding denominations.

3. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aset of denominational jacks and a set of denominational rods actuablethereby, a manually operable lever at each side of said set of rods, aplate projecting at right angles from each of said levers and providedwith apertures to receive and guide certain of said denominational rods,said levers remaining in any position to which they may be moved, and afixed plate provided with apertures to receive and guide certain of saiddenominational rods not controlled by said levers, whereby thedenomination-selecting mechanism will be maintained efiective in thedenominations corresponding to the rods controlled by the fixed plate,but may be made ineffective as to the denominations corresponding to therods controlled by said levers.

4. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, is combination, acarriage,

carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including a set ofdenominational jacks and a set of denominational rods actuable thereby,and a manually operable lever having a guide projecting therefrom toreceive the ends of certain of said denominational rods, to enablemovement of the rods controlled by the guide to and from operativeposition with respect to said jacks, said lever being held in anyposition to which it ma be moved.

5. n a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aplurality of denominational jacks and a plurality of denominational rodsactuable thereby, a plurality of manually operable levers, and a guideextending from each of said levers and adapted to receive certain ofsaid denominational rods, whereby movement of said levers may rendersaid denomination-selecting mechanism ineffective for the denominationscorresponding to the rods controlled by said levers.

6. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aset of denominationaljacks and a set of denominational rods actuablethereby, a manually operable lever at each side of said set of rods, aguide projeoting from each of said levers and adapted to receive certainof said denominational rods, said levers remaining in any position towhich they may be moved, and a fixed guide to receive certain of saiddenominational rods not controlled by said levers, whereby thedenomination-selecting mechanism will be maintained efiective in regardto the rods controlled by the fixed guide, but may be made ineffectiveas to the rods controlled by said levers.

7. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aset of denominational members and a second set of denominational membersactuable thereby, and a manually operable lever mounted to retain anyposition to which it is set having, projecting therefrom, a. guide forthe ends of certain members of one of said sets to enable the members soguided to be moved into and out of effective relation with respect tothe corresponding members of the other set.

8. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aset of denominational jacks, a set of denominational rods actuablethereby, a. guide device for the ends of said denominational rods ofeach of a plurality of groups, and means for selectively moving saidguide devices to determine which of said groups of rods may be actuatedby the corresponding jacks.

9. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism, and meansto enable small numbers to be typed in closely spaced narrow columns andcomputed, comprising a plurality of levers, and members individual toand carried by said levers, whereby the actuation of any of said leverswill render the denomination'selecting mechanism ineffective for thedenominations corresponding to the range of the member carried by thelever actuated.

10. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, in combination, acarriage, carriage actuated denomination selecting mechanism including aset of denominational jacks and a set of denominational rods actuablethereby, a manually operable lever at each side of said set of rods, amember projecting from each of said levers and adapted to engage certainonly of said denominational rods, said levers remaining in any positionto which they may be moved, and fixed guiding means for certain of saiddenominational rods not controlled by said levers, whereby thelast-mentioned rods will be maintained in position to be actuated bysaid jacks, and the rods controlled by said levers may be moved toineffective position.

HARRY H. VICKERS.

WVitnesses:

EDITH B. LIBBEY, ANNIE P. THORNE.

